Cellumed Appoints Lee Seok-hwan as New CEO... "Will Sustain Growth by Strengthening Management Capabilities"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Cellumed is strengthening its management capabilities through the appointment of a new CEO and accelerating the expansion of its bio business, including recombinant protein-based medical devices.

Cellumed announced on the 5th that at the board meeting held on the 2nd, Director Lee Seokhwan was appointed as the new CEO.

New CEO Lee Seokhwan previously served as the head of SK Telecom’s China branch and president of SK Networks ICT division. He was also responsible for the telecommunications division at InscoBee, Cellumed’s largest shareholder, where he successfully grew the MVNO business into a cash cow.

Lee Seok-hwan, CEO of Cellumed.

Since last year, he has joined Cellumed’s management team and has been working hard on management improvement to resume trading. He has also deepened his understanding of Cellumed’s core markets, such as artificial joints and the medical device industry, strengthening Cellumed’s bio business.

During the management improvement process, he played a pivotal role in collaboration among affiliates, including the major shareholder’s participation in a paid-in capital increase and extending the lock-up period for the major shareholder and related parties up to three years. According to Cellumed, to ensure responsible management by the largest shareholder InscoBee and protect shareholder value, approximately 8.77 million shares held by the major shareholder and related parties have been voluntarily locked up for three years until March 25, 2024.

Lee Seokhwan, CEO of Cellumed, said, “Having taken on the important role of CEO just over a year after joining the company, I will grow Cellumed into a bio-specialized company focusing on recombinant protein-based medical devices and new drugs.” He added, “With the successful improvement of the financial structure and establishment of governance, this year we plan to focus on marketing and sales to improve performance.”

He continued, “I understand that general shareholders have concerns because the paid-in capital increase, which was conducted at a premium after fair value evaluation to strengthen the financial structure during the improvement period, was at a price lower than the average purchase price of existing shareholders.” He added, “Confident in Cellumed’s future growth value, we have decided on a voluntary lock-up for three years and will continue responsible management to protect the shareholder value of minority shareholders.”

Meanwhile, before InscoBee’s acquisition, Cellumed was granted a 12-month management improvement period starting February 13 last year due to accounting standard violations by the previous management. After submitting the management improvement plan implementation report and undergoing review by the stock exchange, the suspension of stock trading was lifted on the 26th of last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.